Dexham Estates HOA members (from left) Stacey Simikic, Sam Seidel and April Wise pose for a photo in their neighborhood. The mature trees, large yards and spacious brick homes were what sold residents like Simikic. The neighborhood was ranked No.3 in analysis by The Dallas Morning News that rated Rockwall-Rowlett neighborhoods based on best quality per dollar.

When Stacey and John Simikic relocated their business from Sydney, Australia, to Garland in 1997, they moved to the Dexham Estates neighborhood in Rowlett.

The mature trees, large yards and spacious brick homes were what sold them. And as transportation options continue to improve in the area, so has their quality of life.

“We wanted to be not too far from Dallas and looked at a couple different suburbs,” Stacey Simikic said. “I just feel like we hit one of the best places, because it is still your small town, but close to amenities in other cities.”

A part of west Rowlett that includes Dexham Estates ranked No. 3 in an analysis by The Dallas Morning News that rated neighborhoods in the Rockwall-Rowlett area based on quality per dollar, or in other words, best value for the money spent. This corridor is bordered by Lakeview Parkway to the north, Miller Road to the south, the Garland-Rowlett city limit to the west and Lake Ray Hubbard to the east.

The No. 1 spot went to another area in Rowlett, which is bound by Miller Road to the north, Interstate 30 to the south, Lake Ray Hubbard to the west and Dalrock Road to the east. This area also topped the Rockwall-Rowlett list for two other categories: best schools and best for families with kids.

The News calculated its overall quality index by weighing schools, crime, property appreciation and other factors. The resulting score was divided by the median home value to determine which areas give residents the best bang for their buck.

The 70 homes that make up Dexham Estates were all custom-built in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Most of them run in the $300,000 range.

Near the neighborhood is downtown Rowlett, including the DART light rail station on Main Street, which the city hopes will add value to the area as the population grows.

“Everything that goes up for sale in this neighborhood usually sells immediately,” said Sam Seidel, a former HOA president at Dexham Estates who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years.

And families that move here usually stay. Most residents are between 40 and 60 years old, and the neighborhood children are in high school, Seidel said.

The biggest appeal of the neighborhood is the space, Stacey Simikic said.

“The houses weren’t stacked up next to each other, but it still seemed like a very warm and inviting place,” she said.

With DART rail and the President George Bush Turnpike so close, access to other cities and amenities is easier, Stacey Simikic said. Residents do find themselves leaving Rowlett to travel to nearby Rockwall or Garland for shopping and dining.

“If we had a little more of the things like Rockwall has — the nicer restaurants, with a view — you’d tend to stay close to home,” Stacey Simikic said.

Rowlett leaders want the downtown area to become a destination, too. The city hopes to improve quality of life for residents with its downtown revitalization plan, Mayor Todd Gottel said.

“When you go into other cities, downtown’s the area that’s hustling and bustling,” Gottel said. “But by all standards, we really don’t have one.”

The plans for mixed-use development, including housing and pedestrian friendly retail and dining options, are transit-oriented, Gottel said. The vision for this area is outlined in detail in Realize Rowlett 2020, a plan for the city’s future development.

“We chose 30 years ago to put our money in DART,” Gottel said. “We hope it will have a pay off.”

As Rowlett’s population grows, the issue will be not only where people live but also how they get from one place to the other, Gottel said.

Even the Simikics, who sell high-performance car parts for racing, have realized the convenience of leaving their car at home.

“We do use the DART rail when we go into Dallas,” Stacey Simikic said.

She can walk through the park behind her house and be at the Main Street station in 20 minutes. From there, it’s about a 40-minute ride into downtown Dallas.

Construction of the DART Blue Line, which backs up immediately to several lots in Dexham Estates, brought the neighborhood together, too. Neighbors bonded over a common cause — helping negotiate with DART to protect their trees.

“We didn’t want DART in here; we didn’t use DART,” said Seidel, who lives across the street from the Simikics. “But we knew it was going to be good revenue for Rowlett and connect us with other cities.”

When he first started out in the Rowlett Police Department in the late 1980s, Lt. Marvin Gibbs moved into the Ridgecrest neighborhood, east of Dexham Estates.

He stayed there for more than a decade before moving to another subdivision a few miles south as his family grew and wanted a larger home.

“The houses were affordable and everybody felt safe,” Gibbs said of his first home in the city. “Everybody on the street knew each other and watched out for each other.”

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